I love watching movies. They’re great stuff. As I wrote over at Livejournal one day, in answer to a Writer’s Block question – “What’s your favorite activity for the short days of Winter?”, the answer was “a good blood-n-guts / sword-swinging / explosions-are-many / bad-guys-get-ground-up action movie and a steaming cup of Pero. Fireplace if available. Cat in lap preferred.”

I’ve seen quite a few shows recently, and there hasn’t been one that I didn’t enjoy at some level. A list of the most popular ones from this year, in alphabetical order:

After Earth (only half of it, for a number of reasons)
Croods, The
Despicable Me 2
Gravity
Iron Man 3
Man of Steel
Now You See Me
Oblivion
Oz the Great and Powerful
Pacific Rim
Red 2
Star Trek Into Darkness

Each film had good points and weaker points. Some of them were great rides, great popcorn movies; others had something to say while entertaining. But I’d put every single one of these on a scale, together, against a film we watched tonight, and they’d come up short.

The story of Jackie Robinson has a great cast, a moving story, and supreme social relevance. Boseman and Ford played off each other beautifully as Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey, and the film brings the past into the present with absolute clarity without being “hit you over the head” about it. This  was the state of America within my lifetime, and I don’t fool myself for a minute into thinking that just because we are two generations removed from that day, that all is well. It is not. Racism and prejudice are still rampant in our country, just not as open as they once were. It will take many more generations and much more work before  we can say that we have a nation – let alone a world – that works for everyone, with no one left out.

The Old Wolf has spoken.